REVIEW: Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Blood #2 is fun, surprisingly complex
By Jacob Cordas — There comes a time in every person’s life where they feel the call to give up all the silliness. Embrace the serious world, the real world as people like to call it. You need to stop watching bad horror movies while shirtless-ly eating instant ramen (and not the good stuff that comes in the black package). You need to stop playing with puppets as an excuse to work on a Bernie Sanders impression that becomes less and less timely every day. And you definitely need to stop getting in arguments in Youtube comment sections about how underrated Teen Titans Go! is.
And, thank God, there are people out there who heard that call and responded with a resounding, “I’m sorry but I have breakfast cereal mascots to write about.”
That’s the beauty of Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter Of Blood. It’s childish and fun, a deceptively simple celebration of the ridiculousness that we so often separate from high art. It’s silly but, and this is the point that most stands out for me, it uses that silliness to create something scarily sincere. In this collection of four horror inspired stories, goofiness is an unflinching god.
We’ll start with the two prose stories that make up the back half of the issue: Seven Ravens or Nevermore by Tasha Lowe-Newsom and The Faulty Scythe by Bryce Ingman.
Lowe-Newsom has a strong control of language quickly capturing a sinister mood in her story. It’s ethereal flash fiction but, even with all her skill, falls into the problem so much of that form has. The lack of length makes it so cleverness can subsume quality. It is incredibly well written though and I definitely want to read more by her after reading it. I just wish she had been provided a little bit more space to explore the story itself.
Ingman has the opposite issue making this some fascinating back to back reading. His writing feels pulled directly from the Bizarro Starter Kits I grew up reading. I could see this story sandwiched between two Carton Mellick III short stories. It’s silly and ridiculous, finishing strong with the kind of core joke that carefully never overstays its welcome. But his language control isn’t there, making it exactly like the Bizarro Starter Kits.
Regardless of the flaws, these are still delightful and brief additions to the comic that I am happy were there. They are additive to the experience of reading Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter Of Blood. And when the weakest parts of a compilation are still additive, it’s a sign of how truly great the comic is.
Now we get to the comics in this issue and they are both delights.
A Tipple of Amontillado written by Devin Grayson, layouts by Chris Giarrusso and finishing by Richard Williams is a hauntingly drawn and colored comic that provides a darkly comic reimagining of a classic Edgar Allan Poe story. Grayson frames the story with a dinner party of drunk classic writers pitching quickly escalating horror endings, much to Poe’s frustration. The creative team understands the symmetrical tensions of horror and comedy, mixing the mechanisms with ease. Each atrocity ties into the joke and each joke ties back to the atrocities.
But the highlight of this compilation is the opening story, The Monster Serials: To Hell Comes A Guest. Written by Mark Russell, drawn by Peter Snejbjerg and colored by Peter Snejbjerg and Ole Comoll, To Hell Comes A Guest is a daring reimagining of cereal mascots. In theory this should be the worst of the stories - purely conceptually. What if the cereal mascots were real? Do you get it?
Except Mark Russell has always been able to take concepts that are impossible to describe without making me sound very high and turning them into humanistic depictions of society's ills. This might be the best story he has written all year and Snejbjerg’s art is able to elevate a perfect script into a phenomenal place. It takes such courage to take this premise and use it as a way to discuss complacency during wartime but this does exactly that. It’s as if he took his whole Red Sonja run and condescended it to ten pages.
One line in particular has been haunting me, circling my mind like vultures ready to feed off the part of me that died when I empathized with Count Chocula. It’s simply written, forthright in intent and absolutely damning: "If you wish to know what a resistance looks like, Marquis, their graves will show you."*
Finally special attention needs to be given to the fantastic lettering of Rob Steen. He letters both comics as well as served as production on the comic. His hand can be felt all over the comic. Purely on the letters, he is able to unify the tone of two very different comics. This comic would not be as good as it is without him.
However putting any single person credit for how successfully silly this comic is is unfair. This is an ensemble effort with a variety of people who all brought their best work. The world needs more focused levity.
The world needs more Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter Of Blood.
Overall: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter Of Blood #2 is a fun and surprisingly complex take on the silliest of horror pitches. 8/10
*I sent this quote to my good friend and renegade cactus breeder, T.W. Worn, and the carrier pigeon he sent back had a note on it that simply read, “Oh fuck.”
REVIEW: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood #2
Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter Of Blood #2
Writers: Mark Russell, Devin Grayson
Artists: Peter Snejbjerg, Chris Giarrusso, Richard Williams
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: AHOY Comics
Price: $4.99
Writer Mark Russell (SECOND COMING) and artist Peter Snejberg contribute another in their popular original Cereal Monster series: A magical leprechaun invades the castle of a breakfast-obsessed vampire and his undead bride. PLUS! Poe attempts to explain his classic “Cask of Amontillado” to a group of famous writers who aren’t impressed, in a story by Devin Grayson with art by Chris Giarrusso and Richard Williams.
Release Date: November 18, 2020
Buy It Digitally: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter Of Blood #2
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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am starting to think I may in fact be qualified to write this.
